FINISH THE JOB:

Thus far, the National Security Council has stubbornly refused to end its policy of incremental assistance and adopt a strategy for supplying continuous aid to Ukraine. Such elevated support could prove to be a deciding factor on the battlefield. As it stands, the United States has missed one opportunity after the other to help precipitate a decisive Ukrainian victory and stop Russia from making gains in the Donbas. Instead of foreclosing the possibility of a Russian success, Washington's strategy of metering incremental military aid to Ukraine--based on a flawed assessment of the risk of escalation and the potential consequences of a Russian defeat--has provided Moscow with the time and space to continue its war, even as it now shifts to defending the territory it has seized since February 24.

Ukraine has already demonstrated that it can successfully hit operational military targets in Russia, such as rail lines, airfields, depots, and materiel stockpiles, in a restricted and responsible manner. With new long-range firing capabilities delivered by the United States, Ukraine would be able to strike farther into Russia and destroy militarily relevant targets, thus reducing Moscow's capabilities and limiting its potential for further offensive attacks. Ukrainian forces have given Washington good reason to trust in their restraint and have refrained from conducting strikes on strategic targets or civilian targets that could stoke escalatory tensions with Russia. Given such evidence, the United States has little reason to wring its hands over shipping additional and more powerful weapons to Ukraine that could undermine Russia's war effort.

The war has reached a critical inflection point, with Russia on its heels after a disastrous start and now seeking to consolidate control over the east of Ukraine. Even in the face of Russia's humiliating military blunders, Russian President Vladimir Putin is unlikely to accept a cease-fire or peace deal on unfavorable terms. He continues to believe that Russia has the resources and equipment necessary to win a war of attrition. He could be wrong--the Ukrainian military has performed masterfully, and the Ukrainians themselves have rallied in extraordinary numbers to repulse the Russian attack--but he may not reach this conclusion until months down the road. By that time, more Ukrainian cities will have been reduced to rubble, and untold numbers of Ukrainians will have been raped, maimed, slaughtered, deported, or displaced.

Short of direct intervention, the United States can prevent further massacres of Ukrainian civilians and further destruction of the country only by supplying more lethal aid. That effort starts at home by training and preparing the Ukrainians to use advanced NATO military equipment and simultaneously replenishing U.S. allies' capabilities as they transfer Soviet-era systems to Ukraine. The United States must also continue to pressure European leaders who have been overly cautious and indecisive in their military support for Ukraine's defense, including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. They must come to understand that there can be no return to business as usual with Russia as long as Putin rules from the Kremlin.

Ukrainian forces successfully prevented an attempted Russian river crossing in the Donbas, the British Ministry of Defense said in its regular intelligence update on May 13.

The Ministry said images suggest that Russia has lost armored equipment and the deployed pontoon bridging equipment while attempting to cross the Siverskiy Donets river west of Severodonetsk, the report said, adding that Russian forces have failed to make any significant advances in the area.

Russian commanders are therefore subjected to increasing pressure from their superiors and are employing increasingly risky strategies on the battlefield, the report indicated.

Ukraine also said it had damaged a Russian Navy logistics ship near Snake Island, a strategic outpost in the Black Sea.

Ukrinform, the Ukrainian national news agency, quoted Serhiy Bratchuk, a spokesman for the regional military command that includes Odesa, as saying in a Telegram post that the ship had been set on fire.

The agency reported that the Russian Navy had "lost" the Vsevolod Bobrov in the purported strike off Snake Island.

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